Cave Crickets!!!
Spring is here and the dreaded cave crickets have made their appearance!! They mostly stay in the basement, but a couple have been spotted in the living room and bedroom. HOW DO I GET RID OF THESE???? Someone mentioned putting duct tape around but it doesn't seem to be working. Please help!! I will have a heart attack if I see much more of them!! If I were you I would use some of those sticky traps in your basement. I think it would be the most effective, non chemical process. I've not hear the term cave crickets before but I see many crickets caught in these traps. You could always phone a couple Pest Control Firms and have them come out for an inspection. Ahh springtime, gotta love it!! Jay Cave, or camel, crickets are frequently found in basements and eventually upstairs inside your home. Although cave crickets might look similar to the field cricket, they are from a different family. They are brownish in color and look a little hump backed. They like cool damp conditions and are frequently found in caves, so that's where they get their name. Exclusion is the best control measure. Seal all entries into your home around foundation, doors, and windows to keep out insect pests, especially basement doors and windows. Make sure basement doors have a threshold or sweep that properly fits. A regular perimeter insecticide treatment on foundation and on soil along perimeter of your structure tends to keep most insects and their predators at bay. Eliminate hiding and breeding sites around the foundation by keeping the perimeter clear of stones, leaves, bricks, boards, etc. While insecticide sprays indoors are effective, they should be a last resort. Sticky traps, as indicated are helpful to catch the occasional drifter once indoors. Remember, exclusion is the best control. I actually took some duct tape and lay it down in strips around the basement (the area no one walks) - I actually got a couple of the buggers on there!! ...I was tearing up the flower beds, so I dug up all my Iris ryizomes (lots of them) and brought them into the house for the winter. Well, I got camel back crickets all over the basement, in the insulation and up into the walls. Nothing worked too well except for bug bombs, those aerosol can for killing roaches. We were going away for the weekend, so I let them go all over the house and especially in the basement. No more crickets. The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) warns against the use of foggers (bug bombs). Pilot lights can ignite the bombs and cause explosions in homes and fires. If used, it is recommended that label directions be followed very carefully. Foggers are highly flammable. Typically, one or two 8-oz. foggers will treat a residence. Labels instruct users to turn off ignition sources such as gas pilot lights and electrical appliances that may produce sparks (air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.) If in doubt, contact your natural gas or propane supplier before using foggers. The DPR recommends that pest problems be prevented before they occur, thus avoiding the use of pesticides inside the home. An integrated pest management program--sealing all entries into the home and a regular pesticide/insecticide application on foundation and around perimeter of home will keep most insects and predators at bay. Exclusion is the best control. Don't forget to mention that most aerosol cans use propane/butane/isobutane (flamable) as a propellant and that same warning applies to numerous household products. Also, don't forget to warn against running with scissors, playing with rattlesnakes, smoking causes cancer, don't drink and drive... Originally Posted by supereen Spring is here and the dreaded cave crickets have made their appearance!! They mostly stay in the basement, but a couple have been spotted in the living room and bedroom. HOW DO I GET RID OF THESE???? Someone mentioned putting duct tape around but it doesn't seem to be working. Please help!! I will have a heart attack if I see much more of them!! I have lived in my home for 23 years and this year the cave crickets are invading everywhere. Even though I have 5 cats, some of them slip under our bedroom door and in the night crawl on us. It's horrible. The well house is loaded with them and we've closed all the air conditioning vents and the drains thinking they might come in through them. The cats dismantle most of them by jumping on them and biting their legs off, but how can I get rid of them for good this year. It's only July and I can't face all the way to the hard freeze of Oct. or November to get rid of them. I've called two pest control companies and haven't heard back, but I'm afraid of poison in case one of my cats eats one that got sprayed or poisoned. HELPPPPPPPP! I hate them with a passion. Having lived in CA for 20 years, these are the most horrible bugs, well and June bugs that fly at you I've ever encountered. I live in MO, my home has a walkout basement with poured concrete walls. How are these darn demons getting in, any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thanks. My sister, also, has never heard of these cave crickets, but this year she's so infested with them she's called en exterminator and is considering torching the house. Sticky traps have caught DOZENS of them, so sticky traps are definately your friend! Everything I have been reading, to try to help my sister rid her home of the silly things, and thus retain her sanity, says that you treat these like you would treat roaches. They do seem to be every bit as prolific as roaches (with antlers) so...having been down THAT road in the past, I would be looking for their nests. She has an old cellerway that I'll be going after very soon, to spray. Sticky traps work, and work well. (She likes ZAP traps, 4 traps per pack, about 3 bucks per pack. She gets them at Home Depot.) Upside down duct tape works, too. And DIATOMACIOUS EARTH, dusted liberally around their hiding places, in closets, etc...will kill them. DE is not poisonouis to people or pets at all. It will not harm the cricket-killing patrol kitties (sister would like to borrow those kitties, by the way...) at all, but will choke the crickets. They walk through it, eventually get it into their little mouths, and they die as though they swallowed razor wire. I ran it through Google and got plenty of resources for buying it. Also buy (very inexpensive) the simple duster for spreading it around. This stuff works on roaches and silverfish...you name it. One other thing I learned during my roach days is that caulking works. If possible, caulk every crack, crevice, door frame, pipe opening, yadda yadda... That isn't possible in my sister's home, because of the celler, so we're going with the poison and the DE. Good luck!!!! Cave crickets breed in dark, moist conditions, such as caves. Thus, that's where they get their name. Addressing moisture and ventilation problems in basement will make the area less desirable to your pests. Run a dehumidifier to reduce humidity and a fan to improve ventilation. Moist conditions pose problems with mold and mildew in basement. Make sure gutters and downspouts are clear and carry excess water away from foundation. Make sure soil is sloped to carry rain water away from structure. Make sure foundation vents are open and the crawl space is well-ventilated. Typically, cave crickets pose no problem to homeowners except for their ugly appearance inside the home. Indoors a sticky traps tend to be effective for capturing the occasional intruder. If you have an infestation, perhaps a call to your local exterminator is necessary. Cats can be kept indoors. A residual insecticide spray can be applied to baseboards while cats are locked in the bathroom. Outdoors a regular residual insecticide treatment on foundation and out along perimeter of foundation tends to keep most insect pests at bay. Sealing all cracks and crevices in foundation and all possible entries into the home is necessary to keep insect and rodent pests from entering your structure. Greetings, I discovered that cave crickets / camel crickets have a craving for peanut butter. In my vending repair shop, we would put out mouse traps for any stray critters that may have come in from street machines. We found out that the crickets were eating the peanut butter and not tripping the trap. We do a lot of ebay stuff and bought 2000 printable shipping labels for our packages a while back, works out to less than 2 cents a label. $20 per 2000.GREAT IDEA ! We peel off the shipping label and put a glob of peanut butter in the center of the sticky side and leave it out over night. They are getting trapped like you won't believe. When they do want to jump, they leave their tiny little feet behind. What a shame!
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